Live and Eat Your Garden at San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri KrasovEnchanted gardens, secret gardens, and gardens that look like rooms where you can live and be happy abound at the 26th annual San Francisco Flower & Garden Show open at the San Mateo Event Center through Sunday, March 27.
This year’s show title “Life in the California Garden” inspired full size designs ranging from a sandy beach to a classroom surrounded by lush greenery and waterfalls.
Fantastical rock creatures hide in the bamboo grove of Reality Rocks! by Saunders Designs: Landscape + Gardens.Neat and pretty displays of edible plants complement the show’s usual exhibits of native and exotic flowers. A great example comes from UC Berkeley, called Plant Lab and featuring edible plants in hydroponics containers.A Garden for Life: To Fight, to Love, to Live, created by The Garden Route Company and sponsored by Filoli Center uses a large variety of succulents to create a romantic dovecote with real white doves living inside.Pi r Squared by Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture has a bright yellow outdoor tub nestled among the palms and grasses, and utilizes all kinds of discarded materials for its luxurious display, which includes even a bottle of Champagne.Seville Landscape called their creation, It’s California – Relax and Enjoy!, which kind of sums up the main idea of the largest cultivated plant festival in the Western United States.
Cooking demos with celebrity chefs are added this year to emphasize the unique vitality and sustainability of California gardens:
Friday afternoon, March 25- Jeffrey Stout, Alexander’s Steakhouse
Saturday, March 26- Alice Waters, Chez Panisse (lunch, demonstration, lecture)
Sunday morning, March 27- Margo True, Food Editor of Sunset Magazine
Sunday afternoon, March 27- Roland Passot, La Folie and Left Bank
There are also plenty of seminars, a marketplace, and special activities for families with children.The 26th Annual San Francisco Flower & Garden Show is held at the San Mateo Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Drive in San Mateo. More information at: www.sfgardenshow.com.